Full volume refrigerator



Nov. 8, 1966 J. B. HORVAY ETAL 3,283,531

FULL VOLUME REFRI GERATOR Filed Sept. 10, 1965 I NV E NTORS .TULIUS B. HORVAY BY6 RALPH E. KlNG THEIR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,283,531 FULL VOLUME REFRIGERATOR Julius B. Horvay and Ralph E. King, Louisville, Ky., as-

signors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 486,333 3 Claims. (Cl. 62441) The present invention relates to household refrigerators and is more particularly concerned with a refrigerator including a freezer or below freezing compartment and a fresh food or above freezing compartment and so designed as to provide maximum storage volume.

At the present time combination refrigerators including both a freezer compartment and a fresh food compartment are generally of two types. In one type the freezer compartment is separated from the fresh food compartment by an insulating partition and each compartment is provided with its own external or main door. The second and generally the lower cost type refrigerator comprises a single large liner forming the interior storage volume of the cabinet and a single door for closing the access opening to this storage volume. A box-like evaporator is positioned in the upper portion of this storage volume and serves not only to cool the fresh food storage compartment but also to form a freezer compartment. Since the evaporator is operated at below freezing temperatures, it is spaced from the adjacent portions of the liner walls in order to prevent any portions of the liner walls from operating at temperatures below the dew point. The volume represented by these spaces between the freezer compartment walls and the liner walls is lost insofar as usable storage volume is concerned and in many refrigerators of this type this volume may be in the neighborhood from /2 to 1 cubic foot storage volume.

The present invention has as its primary object the provision of a refrigerator of this single exterior door type of such construction that this lost volume is included in the freezer compartment where it constitutes usable freezer storage volume.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims forming part of this specification.

In accordance with the illustrated embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a household refrigerator including an inner liner and a C-shaped evaporator adapted cooperatively to define a storage volume including a lower fresh food compartment and an upper freezer compartment. A single outer door is provided for closing the access opening to the storage volume. The liner is formed to include side walls forming the side walls of both the fresh food and freezer compartments and a rear wall forming the rear wall of the fresh food compartment. The C-shaped evaporator is secured along its side edges directly to the liner side walls in a position rearwardly from the front edges of the liner side walls and forms the top, rear and bottom walls of the freezer compartment. The portions of the liner side walls enclosed within the areas defined by the evaporator top, rear and bottom walls form the side walls of the freezer compartment. In order to provide maximum storage volume, the rear wall of the evaporator is in substantially the same plane as the liner rear wall, upper edge of which terminates below the lower edge of the evaporator whereby all of the space within the volume of insulation normally provided in the various walls of the cabinet is available as storage volume.

In order to maintain the proper temperature differential between the portions of the liner side walls forming part a volume within the cabinet.

of the freezer compartment and the remaining portions of the side walls, each of the liner side walls have therein a row of vertically extending slots extending along a line between the upper and lower front edges of the evaporator and horizontally extending slots immediately below the side edges of the bottom wall of the evaporator or freezer compartments. These slots form thermal breaks to decrease the conduction of heat between the different portions of the liner side walls so that the portions thereof outside the freezer compartment will operate at above freezing temperatures. A door provided for closing the access opening at the front of the freezer compartment is supported on the liner side walls by means including plastic or insulating strips closing or overlying the vertical rows of slots. A sheet of plastic or similar insulating material having a center portion spaced from the rear wall of the freezer compartment and having its edges connected to the adjacent rear edge portions of the liner side walls or to the upper edge portion of the linear rear wall forms with the evaporator rear wall a duct connected at its lower end to the fresh food storage compartment. One or more passages in the rear wall of the freezer compartment connecting to this duct area and a gap provided by spacing the lower edge of the freezer compartment door from the front edge of the freezer compartment bottom wall provides a path for the circulation of air from the fresh food compartment upwardly beneath the lower edge of the freezer compartment door, through the freezer compartment and the openings in the rear wall thereof and downwardly through the duct to return to the fresh food compartment. Since the portions of the liner side walls forming the side walls of the freezer compartment operate at below freezing temperatures, means are also provided for collecting any condensate formed on the exterior surface of the side wall portions by the condensation of moisture within the insulated space adjacent these side wall portions and for transferring the condensate back into the fresh food compartment.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of a refrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an exploded view of portions of the refrigerator of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken generally along line 33 of FIGURE 1.

With reference to FIGURE 1 of the drawing there is shown a portion of a household refrigerator cabinet including an outer shell 1, a liner 2 and a C-shaped evaporator 3, the liner and evaporator being spaced from the outer shell with the intervening spaces being filled with suitable heat insulating material 4. The liner 2 and the C-shaped evaporator 3 cooperate to define within the cabinet a fresh food storage compartment 4 and a freezer storage compartment 5. It is to be understood that the insulation 4 extends entirely around this storage volume or in other words provides insulated top, side, rear and bottom walls for the storage volume.

The access opening to the storage volume is closed by a single outer door 6 in accordance with the usual practice in this type of refrigerator.

In accordance with the present invention, the liner 2 and the C-shaped evaporator 3 are so constructed and arranged as to provide maximum insulated storage To this end the sheet metal liner 2 comprises opposed side walls 8 extending the full height of the storage volume, a bottom wall (not shown), a rear wall 9 having its upper edge 10 terminating short of the top of the storage volume and a top strip or wall portion 11 connecting the upper forward edges of the side walls 8. The C-shaped evaporator 3 of aluminum or the like is designed to fit between the side walls 8 of the liner above and in spaced relationship with the upper edge 10 of the rear liner wall 9. More specifically, the C-shaped evaporator 3, which includes a bottom wall 14, a rear wall and a top wall 16 to which are attached lengths of refrigerant tubing 17, is designed to be positioned between the upper portions of the liner side walls 8. The side edges of the C-shaped evaporator are connected directly to the liner side walls as by means of a plurality of rivets extending through suitable openings 18 and 19 in the liner side wall portions and the evaporator side edges. The front edges 20 of the C-shaped evaporator are positioned rearwardly from the front edges 21 of the liner so that the connecting top portion 11 of the liner and the top wall of the C- shaped evaporator 16 cooperate to form the top wall of the total storage volume within the cabinet. With the C-shaped evaporator so connected to the liner side walls, this evaporator plus the portions 23 of the liner side walls 8 cooperate to form the rear, top, bottom and side walls of a freezer compartment 5 having an access opening at the front thereof closed by means of a door 25.

The refrigerated bottom wall 14- forms the top wall of the storage compartment 4 and serves to cool the contents thereof.

The evaporator tubing 17 forms part of a refrigeration system designed to supply liquid refrigerant to the evaporator tubing 17 in which it is evaporated to cool the various Walls of the freezer compartment and also the air within the fresh food storage compartment 4. In other words. the refrigerating system is operated in such a manner that the freezer compartment 5 is maintained at below freezing temperatures while the circulation of fresh food compartrnent air into contact with various surfaces thereof maintains the fresh food compartment at above freezing temperatures.

In order to prevent portions of the liner 2 other than those portions 23 forming the side walls of the freezer compartment from operating at below freezing temperatures, there is provided thermal break means designed to maintain a temperature differential between these two portions of the liner side walls. More specifically, there is provided in each of the liner side walls 8 a vertical row of slots 27 extending between the forward edges of the freezer compartment top and bottom walls and horizontal rows of slots 28 extending immediately below the bottom wall 14 of the freezer compartment. These rows of slots respectively decrease thermal conduction between the below freezing portions 23 of the liner side walls and the remaining portions of the liner side walls forming part of the fresh food compartment 4. The slots are so designed that the portions of the liner side walls exposed to the fresh food compartment air are maintained at proper fresh food temperatures but at temperatures suificiently high to prevent the condensation of moisture thereon under normal operating conditions.

In order to expose additional evaporator surface to the fresh food compartment air, means are also provided for effecting circulation of some fresh food compartment air through the freezer compartment. To this end there is provided rearwardly from the freezer compartment or more specifically adjacent the rear wall 15 thereof a duct or passage 29 defined by the rear walls 15 and a sheet of plastic or other heat insulating water impervious material 30 spaced from the freezer compartment rear wall 15 and communicating with the fresh food compartment 4 above the upper edge 10 of the liner rear wall 9. This plastic sheet 30 of somewhat dish-shaped construction has its lower edge 31 suitably connected to the rear wall edge 10, its side edges connected to the adjacent rear side edges of the liner side walls 8 and its top edge 33 overlying the top wall 16 of the freezer compartment. In addition the lower edge 34 of the freezer door 25 is spaced from the forward edge 20 of the freezer bottom wall 14 and a plurality of openings 35 are provided in the upper portion of the rearfreezer wall 15. By this arrangement and due to the temperature differentials within the fresh food compartment, the relatively warm fresh food compartment air passes upwardly along the inner surface of the main door 6 and through the gap below the lower edge 34 of the freezer door, through the freezer compartment and the openings 35 in the rear wall thereof and downwardly through the duct 29. This air is cooled as it passes through the freezer compartment thereby helping to maintain the desired temperatures within the fresh food storage area 4.

During operation of the refrigerator, the inner side wall portions 23 operate at below freezing temperatures with the result that moisture within the insulated spaces adjacent these wall portions will tend to condense on the outer surfaces thereof. During periodic defrosting of the evaporator, this moisture melts and in order to dispose of the defrost water, there is provided trough means 36 on the outer surfaces of the wall portions 23 designed to collect this moisture and to discharge the collected moisture through the series of openings 37 back into the freezer compartment where it is accessible for removal along with other defrost water.

In order to improve the appearance of the interior of the cabinet, the door 25 is preferably pivotally mounted on one of the two liner side walls 8 by means including a plastic strip 39 overlying the vertical series of slots 27 in that liner side wall while a similar plastic strip on the opposite liner side wall overlies the vertical slots therein and provides means for supporting a latch or strike adapted to normally hold the door in a closed position.

If desired, a combination drain pan and meat storage container 40 may be provided immediately below the bottomwall 14 of the freezer compartment and this pan 40 may be supported by slides 41 secured to the liner side Walls 8 either immediately below or overlapping the horizontal slots 28. This pan and the support therefor partially or completely hides the slots 28 from normal view.

From the above description it will be seen that there has been provided a single evaporator, single door refrigerator in which substantially all of the volume within the insulated walls of the cabinet is available for storage purposes. Unlike previously known refrigerators of the single evaporator, single door type, no spaces remain between the side walls of the freezer compartment and the main liner side walls, all of this space being included within the freezer compartment 5. Also for maximum storage volume, the rear wall 15 of the freezer compartment or evaporator is positioned in vertical alignment or with or in the same plane as the rear wall 9 of the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment and the duct area 29 is carved out of the insulating space.

While there has been shown and described a specific embodiment of the invention'it will be understood that it is not limited thereto and is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

an outer shell,

a liner and a C-shaped metal evaporator within and spaced from said shell and cooperating to define a storage volume including a lower fresh food storage compartment and an upper freezer compartment,

means for securing the side edges of said C-shaped evaporator directly to said liner top portion and to said liner side walls rearwardly from the front edges of said liner side walls to form the top, rear and bottom walls of said freezer,

said liner including side walls forming the side walls of both of said compartments and a rear wall forming the rear wall of said fresh food compartment,

said liner side walls each having a plurality of spaced vertically extending rows of slots between the upper and lower front edges of said evaporator and horizontally extending rows of slots immediately below the side edges of the bottom wall of said evaporator to form thermal breaks between the portions of said side walls forming part of said freezer compartment and the portions thereof exposed to the temperatures in said fresh food compartment,

a sheet of plastic material spaced rearwardly from said evaporator rear wall and having its edge portions joined to the adjacent edges of said liner side and rear walls and to the rear top edge of said evaporator to form a duct extending from said fresh food compartment upwardly along the rear wall of said evaporator,

said evaporator rear wall including an opening therein communicating with said duct to permit relatively warm air to circulate through said freezer compartment and return to said fresh food compartment through said opening and said duct.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

an outer shell,

an inner metal liner and a C-shaped evaporator within and spaced from said shell and cooperating to define a storage volume including a lower fresh food storage compartment and an upper freezer compartment,

a single outer door for closing the access opening to said storage volume,

means for securing the side edges of said C-shaped evaporator directly to said liner top portion and to said liner side walls rearwardly from the front edges of said liner side walls to form the top, rear and bottom walls of said freezer,

said liner including side walls forming the side walls of both of said compartments, a relatively narrow top portion connecting the forward top edges of said side walls, and a rear wall forming the rear wall of said fresh food compartment,

the upper edge of said liner rear wall terminating below the lower edge of said evaporator rear wall and being in substantially the same plane as said evaporator rear wall,

said liner side walls each having a plurality of spaced vertically extending slots between the upper and lower front edges of said evaporator and horizontally extending slots immediately below the side edges of the bottom wall of said evaporator to form thermal breaks between the portions of said side walls forming part of said freezer compartment and the portions thereof exposed to the temperatures in said fresh food compartment,

a door for closing the access opening at the front of said freezer compartment,

means including insulating strips overlying said vertically extending slots for supporting said door on said liner side walls with the bottom edge thereof spaced from the forward edge of said evaporator bottom wall, to form an air passage,

2. sheet of material spaced rearwardly from said evaporator rear wall and having its edge portions joined to the adjacent edges of said liner side and rear walls and to the rear top edge of said evaporator to form a duct extending from said fresh food compartment upwardly along the rear wall of said evaporator,

said evaporator rear wall including an opening therein communicating with said duct to permit relatively warm air to circulate into said freezer compartment through said air passage and cooled air to return to said fresh food compartment through said opening and said duct.

3. A refrigerator cabinet comprising:

an outer shell,

an inner metal liner and a C-shaped evaporator within and spaced from said shell and cooperating to define a storage volume including a lower fresh food storage compartment and an upper freezer compartment,

a single outer door for closing the access opening to said storage volume,

means for securing the side edges of said C-shaped evaporator directly to said liner top portion and to said liner side walls rearwardly from the front edges of said liner side walls to form the top, rear and bottom walls of said freezer,

said liner including side walls forming the side walls of both of said compartments, a relatively narrow top portion connecting the forward top edges of said side Walls, and a rear wall forming the rear wall of said fresh food compartment,

the upper edge of said liner rear wall terminating below the lower edge of said evaporator rear wall and being in substantially the same plane as said evaporator rear wall,

said liner side walls each having a plurality of spaced vertically extending slots between the upper and lower front edges of said evaporator and horizontally extending slots immediately below the side edges of the bottom wall of said evaporator to form thermal breaks between the portions of said side walls formng part of said freezer compartment and the portions thereof exposed to the temperatures in said fresh food compartment,

a door for closing the access opening at the front of said freezer compartment,

means including insulating strips overlying said vertically extending slots for supporting said door on said liner side walls with the bottom edge thereof spaced from the forward edge of said evaporator bottom wall, to form an air passage,

a sheet of plastic material spaced rearwardly from said evaporator rear wall and having its edge portions joined to the adjacent edges of said liner side and rear walls and to the rear top edge of said evaporator to form a duct extending from said fresh food compartment upwardly along the rear wall of said evaporator,

said evaporator rear wall including an opening therein communicating with said duct to permit relatively warm air to circulate into said freezer compartment through said air passage and cooled air to return to said fresh food compartment through said opening and said duct,

and trough means for collecting water draining from the insulation sides of the portions of said line side walls forming the side walls of said freezer compartment and discharging said collected water into said freezer compartment.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,622,412 12/ 1952 Staebler 62329 2,758,448 8/1956 Shell et al 62417 2,780,075 2/1957 Hilliker 62446 2,900,806 8/1959 Wurtz et al 62419 X 3,240,029 3/ 1966 Wurtz 62447 X LLOYD L. KING, Primary Examiner. 

1. A REFRIGERATOR CABINET COMPRISING: AN OUTER SHELL, A LINER AND A C-SHAPED METAL EVAPORATOR WITHIN AND SPACED FROM SAID SHELL AND COOPERATING TO DEFINE A STORAGE VOLUME INCLUDING A LOWER FRESH FOOD STORAGE COMPARTMENT AND AN UPPER FREEZER COMPARTMENT, MEANS FOR SECURING THE SIDE EDGES OF SAID C-SHAPED EVAPORATOR DIRECTLY TO SAID LINER TOP PORTION AND TO SAID LINER SIDE WALLS REARWARDLY FROM THE FRONT EDGES OF SAID LINER SIDE WALLS TO FORM THE TOP, REAR AND BOTTOM WALLS OF SAID FREEZER, SAID LINER INCLUDING SIDE WALLS FORMING THE SIDE WALLS OF BOTH OF SAID COMPARTMENTS AND A REAR WALL FORMING THE REAR WALL OF SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT, SAID LINER SIDE WALLS EACH HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACED VERTICALLY EXTENDING ROWS OF SLOTS BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER FRONT EDGES OF SAID EVAPORATOR AND HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING ROWS OF SLOTS IMMEDIATELY BELOW THE SIDE EDGES OF THE BOTTOM WALL OF SAID EVAPORATOR TO FORM THERMAL BREAKS BETWEEN THE PORTIONS OF SAID SIDE WALLS FORMING PART OF SAID FREEZER COMPARTMENT AND THE PORTIONS THEREOF EXPOSED TO THE TEMPERATURES IN SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT, A SHEET OF PLASTIC MATERIAL SPACED REARWARDLY FROM SAID EVAPORATOR REAR WALL AND HAVING ITS EDGE PORTIONS JOINED TO THE ADJACENT EDGES OF SAID LINER SIDE AND REAR WALLS AND TO THE REAR TOP EDGE OF SAID EVAPORATOR TO FORM A DUCT EXTENDING FROM SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT UPWARDLY ALONG THE REAR WALL OF SAID EVAPORATOR, SAID EVAPORATOR REAR WALL INCLUDING AN OPENING THEREIN COMMUNICATING WITH SAID DUCT TO PERMIT RELATIVELY WARM AIR TO CIRCULATE THROUGH SAID FREEZER COMPARTMENT AND RETURN TO SAID FRESH FOOD COMPARTMENT THROUGH SAID OPENING AND SAID DUCT. 